2.5 Razors

Hooten & the Lady – Ethiopia

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Hooten & the Lady – Ethiopia
  • IMDb: link

Hooten & the Lady - Ethiopia TV review

After Ella (Jessica Hynes) is kidnapped and help for ransom, Lady Alex Lindo-Parker (Ophelia Lovibond) borrows an artifact from the British Museum and heads to Ethiopia. Tagging along, albeit disappointed in the lack of treasure, is Ulysses Hooten (Michael Landes). Playing on established themes, the episode features a dangerous woman (Katja Hopkins), villains in search of treasure, bickering by our two intrepid adventurers, and artifacts and clues meant to lead to some long-lost archaeological find – this time belonging to the Queen of Sheba.

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Guilty Pleasure – Teen Wolf

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Teen Wolf
  • IMDb: link

Teen Wolf Blu-ray reviewAlthough it’s hard by any objective standard to classify 1985’s Teen Wolf as a “good movie,” the star vehicle for a young Michael J. Fox written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman is undeniably entertaining.

The story centers around average high school student Scott Howard (Fox) who discovers he’s a werewolf. Rather than hiding this fact, which gives him speed, agility, and power for the first time, Scott brings out the wolf on the basketball court making the sorry team instantly better, and turning himself into a celebrity – something his best friend Stiles (Jerry Levine) is only too happy to exploit for profit.

If you remove the werewolf, Teen Wolf is a pretty generic high school film. We get a good kid, the hot girl he lusts for (Lorie Griffin), her evil boyfriend (Mark Arnold), and the girl (Susan Ursitti) who likes him. Between scenes of the werewolf surfing on top of a van and playing basketball, there’s also Scott learning a life lesson about accepting himself for who he is.

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The Circle

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Circle
  • IMDb: link

The Circle Blu-ray reviewThere’s an interesting premise to this adaptation of the Dave Eggers novel about a woman forced to redefine concepts like privacy and community after being hired by one of the world’s largest technology companies. The Circle (think Apple meets Facebook, but more cult-ish) provides Mae (Emma Watson) with all she’s every wanted, including healthcare for her ailing father (Bill Paxton). However, the level of intrusiveness the company not only engages in but celebrates opens the door to some big questions (which, unfortunately, the film doesn’t really do much to explore).

It would have been very easy for The Circle to be a thriller about the invasion of technology and destruction of privacy, an evil corporation out to do bad things with data, and a world seeming unaware at what they are giving up. The film, however, has bigger aspirations than that, bringing some intriguing questions to the forefront while constantly fighting off the tendency to fall into easy cliche.

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Ghost in the Shell

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Ghost in the Shell
  • IMDb: link

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray reviewBased on the manga series of the same name, the live-action Hollywood Ghost in the Shell stars Scarlett Johansson (whose casting caused fan backlash). In a world where people are enhanced with cybornetic implants, Major is the first police officer whose brain (or ghost) is housed within the shell of the most advanced robot. While working for the corporation which built her, Major begins to learn disturbing secrets about them and herself that have little to do with keeping the peace. And, if any of this sounds familiar, it’s pretty much the plot of Robocop (without the humor).

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Atomic Blonde

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Atomic Blonde
  • IMDb: link

Atomic Blonde movie reviewIt’s easy to compare Atomic Blonde to John Wick. Charlize Theron stars as a talented killer who will leave a wide swath of bodies in her wake through a series of well-executed stunt sequences. Director David Leitch (who was un-credited for directing some scenes in the previously-mentioned Keanu Reeves action flick) takes the helm and brings the same energy and feel to this project. However, the comparison only goes so far.

One of the things that makes John Wick work is the simplicity of its premise. Wick is a revenge story without the need for plot to get in the way. The character is wronged and spends the rest of the film seeking vengeance. Adapted from the comic of the same name, Atomic Blonde is an entirely different animal. Rather than a stylish revenge fantasy, the new film is a spy story that relies on several twists and turns. These begin to drag out (especially during a convoluted final act) before eventually getting us to the end of secret agent Lorraine Broughton’s (Theron) journey. It doesn’t help that Leitch fails to take advantage of the setting (this movie never feels like a Cold War spy thriller) or that many of the twists are either easy to see coming and/or create some large plot holes no one is eager to address.

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